Telecommunications-based social-trust networks

ABSTRACT

A method of facilitating the construction, maintenance, and usage of social-trust networks is disclosed. The illustrative embodiment monitors the call processing details of communication events between users of a telecommunications system as the basis for estimating whether or not a relationship exists between the users that can be exploited in a social-trust network. This is possible because the call processing details of communication events between users is an excellent indicator of the nature of the relationship between users. For example, if Alice calls Brian three times a day on average, including nights, weekends, and holidays, and Brian answers Alice&#39;s calls quickly and returns her unanswered calls quickly, then it is reasonable to infer that Alice and Brian have a relationship that is substantial enough to be used in a social-trust network.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to telecommunications in general, and,more particularly, to social-trust networks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Social-trust networks such as LinkedIn® or other so-called “Friend of aFriend” (FOAF) networks provide a mechanism for an initiating user toobtain an introduction to a target user with whom they cannot readilycommunicate by finding one or more intermediaries to facilitate theintroduction. The chain of intermediaries to the target user is known asan “introduction chain.”

One advantage of a social-trust network is that it knows who “trusts”whom, and, therefore, a social-trust network is able to generate anintroduction chain from the initiating user to the target user throughone or more intermediaries regardless of whether the initiating userknew that such a chain was possible or even knew any of theintermediaries.

On the other hand, social-trust networks in the prior art havedisadvantages. In particular, the utility of a social-trust network isonly as good as the users' efforts to register their contacts. When auser of a social-trust network fails to register a contact, thesocial-trust network cannot use the user and the contact as part of anintroduction chain. For this reason, the need exists for improvements inthe design and use of social-trust networks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention facilitates the construction, maintenance, andusage of social-trust networks without some of the costs anddisadvantages of techniques for doing so in the prior art. Inparticular, the illustrative embodiment monitors the call processingdetails of communication events between users of a telecommunicationssystem as the basis for estimating whether or not a relationship existsbetween the users that can be exploited in a social-trust network. Thisis possible because the call processing details of communication eventsbetween users is an excellent indicator of the nature of therelationship between users. For example, if Alice calls Brian threetimes a day on average, including nights, weekends, and holidays, andBrian answers Alice's calls quickly and returns her unanswered callsquickly, then it is reasonable to infer that Alice and Brian have arelationship that is substantial enough to be used in a social-trustnetwork. In contrast, if Chris calls David occasionally but David neveranswers Chris's calls nor returns Chris unanswered calls, then it isreasonable to infer that Chris and David do not have a relationship.

Because the illustrative embodiment knows who knows whom, theillustrative embodiment is able to generate an introduction chain fromthe initiating user to the target user through one or moreintermediaries regardless of whether the initiating user knew that sucha chain was possible or even knew any of the intermediaries.

Furthermore, because the illustrative embodiment comprises atelecommunications system, the illustrative embodiment not onlygenerates the introduction chain from the initiating user to one or moreintermediary users and to the target user, but the illustrativeembodiment also guide and establishes the communication events thatenable the users to communicate.

The illustrative embodiment comprises: generating a first influenceinference based on at least one communication event between a initiatinguser and a intermediary user; generating a second influence inferencebased on at least one communication event between the intermediary userand a target user; and generating an introduction chain from theinitiating user to the target user via the intermediary user based onthe first influence inference and the second influence inference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a schematic diagram of the salient components oftelecommunications system 100 in accordance with the illustrativeembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of the salient components oftelecommunications switch 101, which comprises: switch core 201,processor 202, and memory 203, interconnected as shown.

FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of the salient tasks associated with theoperation of the illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 4 depicts a flowchart of the salient tasks associated with theoperation of task 401.

FIG. 5 depicts directed graph in which each node is a user, each edge isa non-zero influence inference, and the weight of each edge is thenumerical estimate of the probability that one user will be able toinfluence the second user to facilitate communication with a third user.

FIG. 6 depicts a flowchart of the salient tasks associated with theperformance of task 302.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 depicts a schematic diagram of the salient components oftelecommunications system 100 in accordance with the illustrativeembodiment of the present invention. Telecommunications system 10comprises: telecommunications switch 101 and eight wirelinetelecommunications terminals 102-1 through 102-8.

Telecommunications switch 101 comprises the hardware and software forperforming the functionality described below. The composition oftelecommunications switch 101 is described in FIG. 2. Although theillustrative embodiment comprises only one telecommunications switch, itwill be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading thisdisclosure, how to make and use alternative embodiments of the presentinvention that comprise any number of telecommunications switches in anytopology.

For the purposes of this disclosure, the term “communication event” andits inflected forms is defined to include:

-   -   i. a voice communication event, including but not limited to a        telephone call or voice mail, or    -   ii. a video communication event, or    -   iii. a textual communication event, including but not limited to        instant messaging, internet relay chat, e-mail,        short-message-service, Usenet-like postings, etc., or    -   iv. any combination of i, ii, and iii.

Each of telecommunications terminals 102-1 through 102-8 is well knownin the art and is associated with a user—Alice, Brian, Chris, David,Edie, Frank, Grace, or Harry, respectively. Although the illustrativeembodiment comprises eight wireline telecommunications terminals, itwill be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading thisdisclosure, how to make and use alternative embodiments of the presentinvention that comprise any number of terminals. Furthermore, it will beclear to those skilled in the art, after reading this disclosure, how tomake and use alternative embodiments of the present invention thatcomprise any number of wireless and wireline terminals. It will be clearto those skilled in the art how to make each of telecommunicationsterminals 102-1 through 102-8.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of the salient components oftelecommunications switch 101, which comprises: switch core 201,processor 202, and memory 203, interconnected as shown.

Switch core 201 is well-known in the art and comprises the hardware andsoftware for interacting with telecommunications terminals 102-1 through102-8 under the direction of processor 202. It will be clear to thoseskilled in the art how to make and use switch core 201.

Processor 202 comprises hardware and software for performing thefunctionality described in detail below. For example, processor 202reads program instructions and data from memory 203 and writes data tomemory 203, and processor 202 controls switch core 201, and isresponsible for all call processing in telecommunications switch 101.

Memory 202 is a non-volatile memory that comprises the operating system,program instructions, and data (e.g., call-detail records, the influenceinferences, etc.) used by processor 202 in the operation oftelecommunications switch 101. It will be clear to those skilled in theart how to make and use memory 202.

FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of the salient tasks associated with theoperation of the illustrative embodiment.

At task 301, telecommunications switch 101 continually monitors the callprocessing details of all of the communication events through it andgenerates and maintains an “influence inference” for each pair of usersbased on the call processing details. For the purposes of thisdisclosure, the term “influence inference” is defined as an estimate ofthe likelihood that one user—a “intermediary” user—has the influence onanother user—a “target” user—to have the target user agree tocommunicate with a third user—a “initiating” user. When an introductionchain comprises more than one intermediary user, each subsequentintermediary user is a “target” user. The generation of the influenceinferences is described in detail below.

At task 302, telecommunications switch 101 uses the influence inferencesto facilitate communication between users. This is also described indetail below.

In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, tasks 301 and 302 areperformed concurrently, but it will be clear to those skilled in theart, after reading this disclosure, how to make and use alternativeembodiments of the present invention in which tasks 301 and 302 are notperformed concurrently.

FIG. 4 depicts a flowchart of the salient tasks associated with theoperation of task 401.

At task 401, processor 202 generates a call-detail record for eachcommunication event through switch core 201. In accordance with theillustrative embodiment, the call-detail record for each communicationevent comprises:

-   -   i. the user who initiated the communication event (as inferred        by the identity of the telecommunications terminal associated        with that user), and    -   ii. the calendrical time that the communication event was        initiated, including but not limited to the time of day, day of        the week, date, holiday, etc., and    -   iii. the user to whom the communication event was directed (as        inferred by the identity of the telecommunications terminal        associated with that user), and    -   iv. whether the communication event was answered or not, and if        answered the latency with which a communication event is        answered after the called telecommunications terminal alerts the        user of a communication event and the identity of the caller,        and    -   v. the length of the communication event, and    -   vi. if the communication event is a return of a previously        unanswered communication event (as inferred by a previous        unanswered communication event).        It will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this        disclosure, how to make and use alternative embodiments of the        present invention in which the call-detail records comprise any        subset of these items.

At task 402, processor 202 generates an influence inference for eachpair of users based on the call-detail records generated in task 401.For example, if Alice calls Brian three times a day on average,including nights, weekends, and holidays, and Brian answers Alice'scalls quickly and returns her unanswered calls quickly, then it isreasonable to infer that Alice has some influence with Brian and can beused by someone who has influence with Alice to be introduced to Brian.In contrast, if Chris calls David occasionally but David never answersChris's calls nor returns Chris unanswered calls, then it is reasonableto infer that Chris has little or no influence with David.

In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, the influence inferencefor each pair of users is based on Equation 1 and data that is derivedfrom the call-detail records generated in task 401. In accordance withthe illustrative embodiment, the formula is:

$\begin{matrix}{I_{ij} = \frac{A_{ij} + B_{ij} + C_{ij}}{3}} & \left( {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 1} \right)\end{matrix}$

where I_(ij) is the estimate of influence of user i over user j, A_(ij)is number of calls initiated by user i to user j divided by the totalnumber of calls between user i and user j, B_(ij) is the average numberof seconds taken by user j to answer calls from user i divided by 60,and C_(ij) is the average number of minutes taken by user j to returnunanswered calls from user i divided by 60. It will be clear to thoseskilled in the art, after reading this disclosure, how to make and usealternative embodiments of the present invention that use a differentformula for estimating the estimate of influence of user i over user j.Furthermore, it will be clear to those skilled in the art, after readingthis disclosure, how to make and use alternative embodiments of thepresent invention that use different data culled from the call-detailrecords in the formula.

The influence inferences for all of the users can be represented aweighted directed graph in which each node is a user, each edge is anon-zero influence inference, and the weight of each edge is thenumerical estimate of the probability that one user will be able toinfluence the second user to facilitate communication with a third user.An illustrative graph appears in FIG. 5. In accordance with theillustrative embodiment, the graph in FIG. 5 is represented intelecommunication switch 101 by a matrix corresponding to the graph, asshown in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Illustrative Influence Inference Matrix To Alice Brian ChrisDavid Edie Frank Grace Harry From Alice — 29% — 16% — — — — Brian 44% —— — — — — — Chris — — — — — — 62% — David — — 81% — — — — — Edie — — — —— 87% — — Frank — — — — 41% — — 23% Grace — — 53% — — — — — Harry — — —— — — — —

For example, according to the data in Table 1, it is estimated thatAlice will have a 29% probability of being able to influence Brian tocommunicate with a third user.

FIG. 6 depicts a flowchart of the salient tasks associated with theperformance of task 302.

At task 601, telecommunications switch 101 receives a request from afirst user—an initiating user—to communicate with a second user—thetarget user. The initiating user can communicate this request throughhis or her telecommunications terminal.

At task 602, telecommunications switch 101 generates (or regenerates) anintroduction chain from the initiating user to the target user via oneor more third parties or intermediary users. The introduction chainbetween the initiating user and the target user—if one exists—is a paththrough the directed graph from the initiating user to the target user.If more than one path from the initiating user to the target user existsin the graph, then the introduction chain is that path which has thegreatest probability for success. When one introduction chain fails ateither task 604 or 606, telecommunications switch 101 re-generatesanother introduction chain in an attempt to circumvent the obstacle andcontinues with it. It will be clear to those skilled in the art, afterreading this specification, how to generate the introduction chain fromthe directed graph and data in Table 1.

At task 603, telecommunications switch 101 establishes a communicationevent between the initiating user and the intermediary user, duringwhich the initiating user requests that the intermediary user contactthe target user (or next intermediary user in the introduction chain) onbehalf of the initiating user.

At task 604, telecommunications switch 101 either receives an indicationthat the intermediary user will in fact communicate with the target user(or next intermediary user in the introduction chain) on behalf of theinitiating user or does not receive the indication. This indication canbe transmitted by either the initiating user or the intermediary user.When telecommunications switch 101 does receive the indication, controlpasses to task 605; otherwise, control passes to task 602 wheretelecommunications switch 101 generates another introduction chain tocircumvent to obstacle.

At task 605, telecommunications switch 101 establishes a communicationevent between the intermediary user and the target user (or nextintermediary user in the introduction chain), during which theintermediary user requests that the target user (or next intermediaryuser in the introduction chain) communicate with the initiating user.

At task 606, telecommunications switch 101 either receives an indicationthat the target user will in fact communicate with the initiating user(or next intermediary user in the introduction chain) on behalf of theinitiating user or does not receive the indication. This indication canbe transmitted by either the intermediary user or the target user. Whentelecommunications switch 101 does receive the indication, controlpasses to task 607; otherwise, control passes to task 602 wheretelecommunications switch 101 generates another introduction chain tocircumvent to obstacle.

At task 607, telecommunications switch 101 establishes a communicationevent between the initiating user and the target user, during which theinitiating user communicates his or her ideas in well-known fashion.

It is to be understood that the disclosure teaches just one example ofthe illustrative embodiment and that many variations of the inventioncan easily be devised by those skilled in the art after reading thisdisclosure and that the scope of the present invention is to bedetermined by the following claims.

1. A method comprising: generating a first influence inference based onat least one communication event between a initiating user and aintermediary user; generating a second influence inference based on atleast one communication event between the intermediary user and a targetuser; and generating an introduction chain from the initiating user tothe target user via the intermediary user based on the first influenceinference and the second influence inference.
 2. The method of claim 1further comprising: establishing a communication event between theinitiating user and the intermediary user; receiving an indication thatthe intermediary user will communicate with the target user on behalf ofthe initiating user; and establishing a communication event between theintermediary user and the target user.
 3. The method of claim 2 furthercomprising: receiving an indication that the target user willcommunicate with the initiating user; and establishing a communicationevent between the initiating user and the target user.
 4. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the first influence inference is based, at leastpartially, on the frequency of communication events between theinitiating user and the intermediary user.
 5. The method of claim 1wherein the first influence inference is based, at least partially, onthe number of communication events between the initiating user and theintermediary user.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first influenceinference is based, at least partially, on the direction ofcommunication events between the initiating user and the intermediaryuser.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the first influence inference isbased, at least partially, on the latency of answering communicationevents between the initiating user and the intermediary user.
 8. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the first influence inference is based, atleast partially, on the latency of returning communication eventsbetween the initiating user and the intermediary user.
 9. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the first influence inference is based, at leastpartially, on the calendrical time of communication events between theinitiating user and the intermediary user.
 10. A method comprising:receiving an indication that an initiating user desires to communicatewith a target user; generating an introduction chain from the initiatinguser to the target user via a intermediary user based on (1) a firstinfluence inference of communication events between the initiating userand the intermediary user, and (2) a second influence inference ofcommunication events between the intermediary user and the target user;and establishing a communication event between the initiating user andthe intermediary user.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein the firstinfluence inference is based, at least partially, on the frequency ofcommunication events between the initiating user and the intermediaryuser.
 12. The method of claim 10 wherein the first influence inferenceis based, at least partially, on the number of communication eventsbetween the initiating user and the intermediary user.
 13. The method ofclaim 10 wherein the first influence inference is based, at leastpartially, on the direction of communication events between theinitiating user and the intermediary user.
 14. The method of claim 10wherein the first influence inference is based, at least partially, onthe latency of answering communication events between the initiatinguser and the intermediary user.
 15. The method of claim 10 wherein thefirst influence inference is based, at least partially, on the latencyof returning communication events between the initiating user and theintermediary user.
 16. The method of claim 10 wherein the firstinfluence inference is based, at least partially, on the calendricaltime of communication events between the initiating user and theintermediary user.
 17. A method comprising: generating a first influenceinference based on at least one communication event between aninitiating user and a intermediary user based on the number ofcommunication events between the initiating user and the intermediaryuser; generating a second influence inference based on at least onecommunication event between the intermediary user and a target userbased on the number of communication events between the intermediaryuser and the target user; receiving an indication that an initiatinguser desires to communicate with the target user; generating anintroduction chain from the initiating user to the target user via aintermediary user based on (1) the first influence inference, and (2)the second influence inference.
 18. The method of claim 17 wherein thefirst influence inference is based, at least partially, on the number ofcommunication events between the initiating user and the intermediaryuser.
 19. The method of claim 17 wherein the first influence inferenceis based, at least partially, on the direction of communication eventsbetween the initiating user and the intermediary user.
 20. The method ofclaim 17 wherein the first influence inference is based, at leastpartially, on the latency of returning communication events between theinitiating user and the intermediary user.